Orontes

The Orontes, or Asi, is a 571 km (355 miles) long river in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon and flows north through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samanda in Turkey. It is known as the eighth-longest river in Turkey.

The Orontes, as the main river of the northern Levant, was the site of several great wars. Homs, Hama, Jisr al-Shughur, and Antakya are among the most important cities on the river (the ancient Antioch, which was also known as "Antioch on the Orontes").

The river is claimed to have been named after Orontes, an Indian military chief who committed suicide and plunged into the river after losing single combat to Dionysus in the Greek epic poem Dionysiaca (approximately 400 CE). According to the Greek geographer Strabo (in Geographica, circa 20 CE), the river was originally named Typhon because Zeus was said to have struck the dragon Typhon down from the sky with thunder, and the river formed where Typhon's body had fallen; however, the river was later renamed Orontes after a man named Orontes built a bridge on it.

Length: 355 miles (shared with Syria and Lebanon)